Overview
The Japan Innovation Party, known in Japanese as Nippon Ishin no Kai and also called the Japan Restoration Association, is a political party based in Osaka. It has been described as conservative, centre-right, right-wing, and right-wing populist. The party was founded in October 2015 as Initiatives from Osaka from a split in the earlier Japan Innovation Party. It advocates decentralization, federalism, and limited government policies.
Electoral development
After the 2016 House of Councillors election, the party became the third-largest opposition party in the National Diet. In the 2017 general election it won 11 seats, down from the 14 it held previously. In the 2019 House of Councillors election it won four new seats. In the 2021 general election it gained 30 seats, becoming the third-largest party in the chamber, winning nearly all seats in Osaka while also expanding representation outside the prefecture. In the 2024 general election it lost several seats but retained dominance in Osaka.
Coalition role
In 2025 the Japan Innovation Party formed a governing coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party after the collapse of the 26-year-long LDP-Komeito coalition. The coalition was established on 20 October 2025 and became the basis of the Takaichi Cabinet, formed on 21 October 2025. Until the September 2026 cabinet reshuffle, the Liberal Democratic Party held all cabinet posts, at which point the Japan Innovation Party entered the cabinet. The two parties are aligned on national policies and National Diet strategies.
Parliamentary session proposal
In the related news context, Fumitake Fujita, a top official of the Japan Innovation Party, suggested reducing the length of parliamentary sessions that ministers attend almost daily. He cited a report by NXJI Research saying that Japan’s prime minister attended parliamentary sessions for 72 days in 2022, compared with 50 days in Britain and 13 days in Germany. The report also proposed introducing cooks and other housekeeping staff at the prime minister’s official residence so the leader can concentrate on official duties and get sufficient sleep.